They shook hands, and Lev said: “Don’t you have a tie?”

Dave got this sort of thing all the time. For some reason the older generation felt they had the right to be rude about young people’s clothes. Dave had a number of stock replies, ranging from charming to hostile. Now he said: “When you were a teenager in St. Petersburg, Grandfather, what did cool kids like you wear?”

Lev’s stern expression broke into a grin. “I had a jacket with mother-of-pearl buttons, a waistcoat and a brass watch chain, and a velvet cap. And my hair was long and parted in the middle, just like yours.”

“So we’re alike,” Dave said. “Except that I’ve never killed anyone.”

Lev was startled for a moment, then he laughed. “You’re a smart kid,” he said. “You’ve inherited my brains.”

A woman in a chic blue coat and hat came to Lev’s side, walking like a fashion model although she had to be near Lev’s age. Lev said: “This is Marga. She ain’t your grandma.”

The mistress, Dave thought. “You’re obviously too young to be anyone’s grandmother,” he said with a smile. “What should I call you?”

“You are a charmer!” she replied. “You can call me Marga. I used to be a singer, too, you know, though I never had your kind of success.” She looked nostalgic. “In those days I ate handsome boys like you for breakfast.”

Girl singers haven’t changed, Dave thought, remembering Mickie McFee.

They went into the restaurant. Marga asked a lot of questions about Daisy, Lloyd, and Evie. They were excited to hear about Evie’s acting career, especially as Lev owned a Hollywood studio. But Lev was most interested in Dave and his business. “They say you’re a millionaire, Dave,” he said.

“They lie,” said Dave. “We’re selling a lot of records, but there’s not as much money in it as people imagine. We get about a penny a record. So if we sell a million copies, we earn enough maybe for each of us to buy a small car.”

“Someone’s robbing you,” said Lev.

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Dave said. “But I don’t know what to do about it. I fired our first manager, and this one is much better, but I still can’t afford to buy a house.”

“I’m in the movie business, and sometimes we sell records of our soundtrack music, so I’ve seen how music people work. You want some advice?”

“Yes, please.”

“Set up your own record company.”

Dave was intrigued. He had been thinking along the same lines, but it seemed like a fantasy. “Do you think that’s possible?”

“You can rent a recording studio, I guess, for a day or two, or however long it takes.”

“We can record the music, and I suppose we can get a factory to make the discs, but I’m not so sure about selling them. I wouldn’t want to spend time managing a team of sales representatives, even if I knew how.”

“You don’t need to do that. Get the big record company to do sales and distribution for you on a percentage basis. They’ll get the peanuts and you’ll get the profits.”